PH moves to extradite Amalilio
LAWYERS from the Department of Justice (DOJ) will soon fly to Malaysia to formally start the extradition process for Manuel Amalilio who is accused of swindling 15,000 Filipinos of P12 billion in a Ponzi scam.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday said this move was possible under the Malaysian Extradition Act of 1992.
“Under that law, an extradition treaty between the Philippines and Malaysia is not necessary for Amalilio to be returned to the Philippines to face charges,” De Lima said in a statement.
De Lima made it clear that Kuala Lumpur had not rejected Manila’s request for the extradition of Amalilio, the brains behind Aman Futures Group Philippines.
“It was, in fact, among the outcomes of the Feb. 6 talks with our counterpart, the Malaysian Attorney General, that (the Philippines) can commence the extradition process immediately,” De Lima said.
The Feb. 6 meeting on Amalilio was between Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar and Malaysian Attorney General Tan Sir Gani Patail in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Amalilio wasmeted out a two-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to obtaining a fake Philippine passport.
On Feb. 5, Philippine law enforcers were about to board a plane to Manila with the fugitive when they were stopped by senior Malaysian police officials. Amalilio was returned to police custody and subsequently convicted and sentenced for fraud by a Kota Kinabalu court.
Undersecretary Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson, debunked reports quoting Malaysian officials as saying that Kuala Lumpur would not extradite Amalilio since he is a Malaysian citizen.
“That’s inaccurate because, first of all, our state counsels from the DOJ were about to go [to Malaysia] to formally start the extradition process,’’ Valte said over government radio dzRB.
In a statement in Malaysia’s Star newspaper Saturday, Patail said Malaysia would not extradite Amalilio, aka Mohammad Kamal, because he is a Malaysian citizen holding a valid and active identification card.
Gani said the Attorney General’s Chambers had received a formal request from the Philippines’ Department of Justice to hand over Amalilio to the Philippines under the Asean Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and freeze his assets.
Even though Malaysia has no extradition treaty with the Philippines, Malaysian law allows extradition under “certain processes,’’ Valte said.
Quoting De Lima, Valte said Malaysian authorities had frozen Amalilio’s assets.
De Lima on Saturday confirmed the freezing of Amalilio’s assets following talks between Philippine officials, including Salazar, Ambassador Eduardo Malaya and Gani.